


Circling the Round Square

by Raaj



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 07:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tifa wasn't sure when she should tell Aerith how she felt, but she couldn't stand for 'never'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circling the Round Square

The gondola had two wide seats; Aerith and Tifa elected to sit together on one, even if it was a tiny bit of a squeeze that way. It made it easier for them to look where the other was looking, and they oohed and aahed over the sights of Gold Saucer together, starting to point when they got especially excited, worried their companion would miss something amazing.  
  
But when the visual effects slowed down for a moment, Tifa noticed Aerith’s head had bowed. She was mumbling something to herself silently.  
  
“Aerith?” Tifa said. Her friend jumped. “Aerith? Is something bothering you?”  
  
“No, no. Just thinking. …There’s something I need to tell someone, but I’m not sure how to say it. I guess I ended up rehearsing it in my head again. Sorry!”  
  
“You know you can tell me anything.”  
  
“I know. That’s why I said ‘someone’, not ‘you’,” Aerith said with a patient smile.  
  
Tifa’s brow wrinkled as she stared back at her friend. It hadn’t taken her long to realize the older woman was a very private person, often keeping her troubles and deeper thoughts under wraps. But it still frustrated her at times. Especially right now, when she thought they’d been having such a nice—not a date, a _friendly outing_ —and this slip-up had her wondering if Aerith had been hoping for someone else’s company all along. “Is it Cloud?”  
  
Tifa knew right away it was by the surprise on Aerith’s face: those dazzling green eyes widened, and her lips parted in a small ‘o’. She also knew she shouldn’t have asked by the sharp pang in her chest. Aerith wanted to confess to him. And, after seeing how those two could withdraw into their own private world, Tifa harbored little doubt that Cloud would return her feelings.  
  
“It’s not…Tifa, I don’t…” Aerith fumbled to fill the awkward silence, but her tongue seemed to be tying itself, and her jealousy-stricken friend couldn’t help but think it was just further proof. Aerith was shying from hurting her feelings because she still thought one childhood friend had a crush on the other. When really, Tifa was upset at seeing her window of opportunity with Aerith closing. It had always been impossibly narrow. In fact, if Aerith hadn’t asked her to come along on this beautiful Enchantment Night, she wouldn’t have bothered hoping for it at all; the other girl’s interest in Cloud was much too obvious. If this night hadn’t happened, if this ride hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have been bothered (much) to see Aerith draped over Cloud the next day; she could have been happy for them.  
  
She could still be happy for them if she just let this moment pass, if she said it was fine, if she changed the subject to the haunted mansion outside the window. If her desperate fingers weren’t snaking around Aerith’s hand for a too-late try to pry that window back open and seize a chance.  
  
If the window had closed out of sight, she could have not minded. But like this…  
  
“Because—because I had something to say to Cloud too. But things have changed, since… I’m not sure when they started to change.” When she found Cloud again and he was so different, when she met Aerith? Or simply when she realized she found women attractive too? There were too many possible points, and no matter how one looked at it she’d still fallen in love with her best friend. “But I thought about it again, and I realized I wanted to tell _you_ —”  
  
The surge of bravery carried her just as far as a brief squeeze of Aerith’s hand, and then it left her high and dry, pulling back as if her friend was made of burning coal. Because that was it, Aerith was smart enough to read in between the lines and see her friend, her _female_ friend, had feelings for her that didn’t suit friendship. And the flower girl was staying carefully still, her mouth still slightly open in question. Fingers callused from fighting bunched into fists as Tifa opened her mouth, found no way to excuse herself, and turned her head toward the opposite window. This one faced away from the Gold Saucer, and showed nothing but an inky darkness. Red wine eyes blinked quickly as Tifa focused on taking it in and not giving into frustration or rejection or guilt. But when Aerith had told her she was her first real girl friend, that she hoped they would always be friends, the guilt crept in easily.  
  
She thought she was waiting for Aerith to say something; it’d probably start with “I’m sorry, but…” She wasn’t expecting the finger skimming the top of her left ear, tucking a strand of hair back. The touch continued, too; just as it reached the bottom, setting Tifa’s teardrop pearl earring to swing, she looked back to Aerith.  
  
The flower girl’s face was startlingly close, and in the next second their lips met.  
  
“Mmph?”  
  
The flower girl pulled back with a small grin. “Fair’s fair. You surprised me first.”  
  
Tifa stared at her friend dumbly until the other woman sighed.  
  
“You know, though, that’s _really_ not going to help me with what I have to tell Cloud. Like I was _trying_ to say, it’s not anything like that. Still…” She smiled, her green eyes bright as they met Tifa’s. “…That was nice to hear.”  
  
The younger woman heard the little tiptoeing around the earlier subject, the question of what Aerith wanted to tell Cloud. Well…she guessed Aerith would keep her secrets, and tell them when the time was right. Or maybe it was a matter that should stay just between Cloud and her. It was hard to be worried when Aerith would kiss her. And on that thought… “Can we try that again? The kiss?”  
  
When the gondola ground to a halt back at the station, a beaming Tifa quickly stuck her head out the door, along with a handful of Gold Saucer’s tokens. “Can we go on a few rounds without any stops? We’re really enjoying tonight.”

 


End file.
